


Its always been you

by PokeeArt



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Friends to Enemies, M/M, Obsession, One-Sided Relationship, Season/Series 05, Short Time Skips, Time Skips, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 03:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17573039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PokeeArt/pseuds/PokeeArt
Summary: He’s growing where Jeremiah burned.





	Its always been you

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this all in one sitting because the idea struck me. Also I miss soft pre-spray Jeremiah and wanted to write his character a little.

The blue low light, calming and warm in ways ‘normal’ people wouldn’t understand, the generator he had put his heart and soul into, and the ever pressing danger of knowing his brother is out wreaking havoc again might have been why he was so ready to jump into Bruce Wayne’s figurative arms. But maybe it was also because of his smile.

“It’s beautiful.” A half whisper, amazement and awe tickling Jeremiah’s insides. Bruce Wayne pacing around the generator, eyes bright and impressed, pride and excitement clear on his face. The blue light highlights his cheek bones just right and then he looks up.

Big brown eyes met his and he’s gone.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He trusts Bruce. Bruce is the first person he’s ever trusted like this. It’s scary and he’s unsure whether he wants this or not but Bruce isn’t scared. No, he simply reaches a hand out and asks.

“I need your help, Jeremiah.” he asks, voice soft and pleading. Even without those tender tones in his voice his face would have been enough. 

Brown eyes promising faith and redemption, hand extended to the brother of the enemy like it was natural. Everything about Bruce in that moment was comfortingly calm in his acceptance at whatever Jeremiah agreed to. He wouldn’t push or ask again if Jeremiah said no. Bruce was one of very few who understood.

Jeremiah reaches his own hand out and clasps it with Bruce’s.

The smile was worth the future danger. Bruce needed him and he was damned if he wasn’t going to be there. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jerome is dead, splayed like roadkill on top of a car, and Jeremiah doesn’t know what to feel. He’s glad in some aspects, that this utter terror is gone from Gotham, but he’s also bone tired and sad. Jerome had been his brother, what felt like a lifetime ago, before they both tried to run away. 

Jeremiah stares at his twin’s grinning face and wonders if he was mad that Jeremiah got away and he didn’t.

The tears sneak past his defenses and he doesn’t realize he’s crying until Bruce turns to him. There’s a brief flash of disbelief before his eyes go soft and concerned. Jeremiah wants to laugh. 

Who is Bruce Wayne to look at him like that? Jerome deserved this. Gotham is safer now that he’s gone. But Bruce still asks something that makes his stomach tighten.

“Jeremiah, I’m sorry. He was your brother…” Voice just as gentle that it had been hours ago but there’s a lingering sadness to it. He broke his promise to protect Jeremiah and he seems to know it. 

He knows he can’t stand seeing what’s left of his twin brother and Bruce’s sad but sincere brown eyes without falling apart completely so he leaves.

Sniffling and turning his back to the grave of his first friend and leaving his second to handle it by himself.

Jeremiah thinks it’s poetic.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He’s not sure how it happened and he finds he doesn’t care much. He’s different now. Less afraid, less weak, less...sane. But it’s an improvement he’s excited about. 

Jerome wasn’t the complete shit of a brother afterall. He’d left Jeremiah with one last joke, one last gift and gag. He wonders if his brother was jealous. It doesn’t matter now.

What matters now is getting what he wants. Gotham on its knees, for people to understand him, for Bruce Wayne to take his place at his side. He’s most excited about that. It sends shivers down his spine just thinking of it. 

Bruce Wayne reborn. Like a phoenix. Rising high above the ash of what he once was.

It’s going to be beautiful. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the end Bruce fights it, struggles against his inevitable evolution, and Jeremiah is confused. 

Bruce had always been so understanding and full of intelligence. Why now was he becoming another ‘normal’ person in Jeremiah’s mind? That thought left him with pure anger. 

Bruce Wayne wasn’t normal, he couldn’t be, wouldn’t be, wasn’t and never had been. Bruce was Bruce, soft eyes, calm disposition and thoughtful beyond words. 

The ‘normal’ person hiding in his skin wasn’t soft or calm or thoughtful. The ‘normal’ was enraged, outraged and burning.

The ‘normal’ was something else. The beginnings of a fire. Small embers at best. But Jeremiah would take it. He reveled in it, this fraction of a transformation he had a part in.

It was almost as interesting as the first time they had met. But wholly different. At that time they simply paralleled each other but now. Now they were intertwined. They would fan each others burning flames into something completely new.

Bruce’s fiery brown eyes bored into his and he did what came to mind.

He left the new side of Bruce in the grave with his brother. Symbolic in an ironic way, poetry he thinks with a snort of laughter. 

He doesn’t turn back. After all he has a city to claim.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bruce is a lot slower in his transformation. He fights at every stage and opportunity. Instead of getting upset Jeremiah gets curious.

Bruce can be pushed so far without snapping. How difficult it is for the younger boy but he does so anyway. He avoids his transformation and simply branches out into a different person. 

He’s growing where Jeremiah burned. 

It’s annoying but fascinating and really, he hadn’t expected anything less from Bruce. His first real non blood related friend. 

Figuring out Bruce Wayne was as much fun as finding his followers and forming a cult. 

Kidnapping the butler and using the fear toxin had been an experiment. One that Bruce scraped through with some help from a feline friend. 

Jeremiah wouldn’t allow that to happen again. 

He wants to laugh at how easy it is to sneak into Wayne Manor, how easy it is to raise the gun and fire. 

Catching them in an intimate moment is also poetic, pleasing him greatly even if he’s mad that this street trash nobody is important to Bruce. She won’t be for much longer.

There’s blood everywhere. On the table, on her clothes, on Bruce’s face. He screams and is by her side instantly. 

Bruce’s face isn’t soft, isn’t angry. It’s something completely new and Jeremiah stays as long as he can to soak it all in.

He tells himself later he doesn’t feel guilty for making those brown eyes cry. 

He pretends the stupid sight of Bruce’s tears hadn’t hurt his already torn heart.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shooting the Cat had been a mistake. She doesn’t die and she doesn’t take being almost murdered lightly. But something is different with her.

Her and Bruce are both different.

She’s uncontrollable and pissed, lashing out and doing as she pleases in the face of the end of the world. 

Bruce tries to tame her, but it steams in his face, close to blowing up. Bruce is hardened into something silent and burning. His emotions are difficult to pick up now and Jeremiah tries not to be disappointed. This is a good sign after all. 

The Cat has transformed in the way Bruce should, soon, will. She comes after him and Echo with dangerous determination and Bruce is quick to rush after her. 

Neither Bruce or the Cat are welcome in his plans at the moment so he sends Echo to handle it.

She comes back later with claw marks on her face and a wicked grin. She confirms that the Cat is just as fiery and smooth as Jeremiah had predicted. 

She also apparently escaped from Echo and is roaming somewhere in their district. Which in turn means Bruce Wayne is wondering the Dark Zone with, or looking for, the Cat. 

Jeremiah wouldn’t say it’s fear he feels but something spikes deep in his stomach at the thought of some random crazy killing Bruce before he can ignite. He sends Echo and a couple trusted henchmen to spread a message. 

Anyone who lays a hand on Bruce Wayne will pay. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turns out Bruce was expecting something like that to happen. He’s used it to travel unscathed through the Dark Zone and straight to the chemical plant. Frustratingly enough the Cat is with him. 

Jeremiah gets word from some lower level guards and grabs Echo before high tailing it over to the chemical plant. He needs to be there when Bruce erupts.

His blood is singing when he lays eyes on the younger boy. Brown eyes furious and deadly calm at the same time. Jeremiah laughs out loud and they’re off.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Bruce has gotten lengths stronger since the day in the graveyard. He easily predicts Jeremiah’s moves and dodges accordingly. He only lashes out when Jeremiah comes too close. It’s humorous to see which attacks Bruce will use to deter him without really harming him. 

The knife also makes it so much more interesting. Bruce ends up so focused on the knife in his left fist he forgets that Jeremiah has two hands. 

Punching the cheekbones he’s fantasies about more than once was strange. Bruce’s flesh, unlike his new demeanor, is soft. It gives easily under Jeremiah’s hand. The skin didn’t split like he hoped but a bruise was already forming by the time Bruce had managed to jump back. 

Bruce cupped his injured cheek and sent him a deadly threatening glare. Jeremiah took the pause to listen to the scuffle happening below them.

Echo was holding off the Cat but not without some difficulty.

Bruce, the ever observant, had kicked Echo’s gun out of her hand the second they arrived. Jeremiah had stepped in then, to insure that he would be the one to fight to the brunette. 

He needn’t have worried. Echo had laughed her shrieky high pitched voice ringing around the empty plant and lunged at the Cat. Echo always did enjoy playing with her food. 

Bruce shifts and brings his attention back up. He grins and rushes forward again. Destiny had never felt so good.

\----------------------------------------------------------

They were both growing tired as the fight dragged on longer. Bruce was getting sloppy and he’d nicked the younger with his blade a couple times. Nothing too deep or life threatening but enough that Bruce had to be feeling it. 

Light splatters of blood littered the ground around them and leaked through the metal walkways down below. The platform creaks dangerously and neither boys notice.

Jeremiah swings his knife wildly now, tired and ready for Bruce’s transformation to happen. But Bruce, smart as always, sidesteps around him and gives a swift kick to his rear. 

He laughs weakly and stumbles before whirling around on the brunette. Bruce instinctively flinches backwards but there’s nowhere to go. Bruce’s back slams into the metal railing on the side of the walkway. The whole thing sways dangerously and Jeremiah freezes, just as surprised as Bruce. 

An ugly metal groan cuts through the shock and he looks up to see Bruce starting to fall. The railing came loose and broke off, leaving the younger boy nothing to lean against. 

Bruce’s brown eyes widen in realization and fear. His arms come up as if to grab something to stall his decent but his hands meet nothing but air.

Jeremiah is acting before he can think about it.

He’s grabbing one of Bruce’s outstretched hands and looking into those deep brown eyes. And for a moment it’s like nothing's ever changed. They never had to change into something dark and gritty to stay alive. They never stopped caring for each other.

They never stopped being friends.

Hand in hand both boys fall downward toward a massive tank of radiant green chemicals.

Big brown eyes met his and he’s gone.

**Author's Note:**

> I had imagined a different ending but I like the way this comes together.
> 
> Let me know if y'all want to know the alternate ending! I might write and add it as an extra chapter


End file.
